The map below shows the per capita emission for different countries:
India has for long been arguing that decisions on capping world (and India's) emission levels should be taken from the per capita perspective. The caps will determine how much carbon India can emit in the future. Remember as India develops, emissions are likely to go up. So in other words carbon caps are a cap on development.
Developed countries are saying dont look at the per capita emissions. They are asking us to look at the map below which is based on total emissions by each country. Here as you can see India has a sizable emission.
The map below shows the total emission by country. The size of the country has been scaled based on its emission:
Developed countries want emission caps to be decided based on this map. But by this measure India's emissions cannot go up by much more in future.
The Indian government which was strongly pitching the per capita line till very recently seems to be bending and accepting total emission as a basis for caps.
